Her hair smelt like smoke and burnt marshmallows, it was brown, the kind of mousy brown that you find on the people who think they're all average, the colour that takes out the rest in genetics by a milestone, the kind that turns to a caramel-honey coloured glaze the moment the sun's light shines on it, giving a strange halo effect that you were never looking for but found anyway. she had the same caramel eyes too, which faded into a rich milk chocolate at the centre and moulded into pupils that contained all of her darkness in one fell swoop. her skin was as good as one would expect skin to be, tan in the places where it received sunlight and paler in the places where it didn't, but then again, when it comes to that sort of comparison, her skin was paler than her hair and her eyes. It was sort of like the first sand after the tide goes out, mixed with the sea foam on top. She had a heart shaped face which lived up to its name and I was sure that she would be the first person I knew to end up with smile-lines. Her name was Misery.
Her name wasn't really Misery, but that's what she first told me it was and the name stuck. Her real name was Abby. Abby was the type of person who would go outside, down to the beach in winter time, when it was usually raining and windy and storming and take off her jacket, tie it around her waist, kick off her boots and socks and wade straight in, never giving a damn about the cold, letting herself get used to that feeling, every time a wave crashed over her feet and ankles, possibly up to knees depending on how deep she went, it would sent a wave of chills and she simply took it on-board, another scar for the road. There was always a sound on the edge of her lips, waiting to burst into air that would be carried away by the force of the wind and melt into a white noise of background nothingness until she started all over again.
She was my type of person. Everything I was and yet still there was something about her that I just longed for. I had her skin, her eyes but darker and my hair was far darker and she didn't have my freckles, but we were so alike. We liked the same things and would spend hours in each other's company talking about one topic over and over again. We were thinkers and dreamers and speculators and so many other things. So, in a way I guess what we did was totally justified. We sat on top of a hill, the sun had started to set and we were watching it. it burned through the sky as if it could set the whole world alight with one swift movement, creating that ever loved silver lining on the edge of every pink or gold cloud. It made me think of Angels, but not the kind you'd find in scriptures or depicted in some holy fashion. There was no image to accompany my thought, simply: ANGELS spelt in big capital letters on the inside of my brain. The next thought was very similar: MERCY, the ability to let go and forgive and give up and keep moving on afterwards. I have a lot of mercy.
We watched the sky and I thought. I can't say the same for Misery, I don't know what was going on inside her head, or whether she anticipated what would happen next or whether she even though before she spoke at all because the moment the sun was fading behind our planet she turned to me and said
"hey, Rena, have you ever wanted to try and chase the sun? like, when it's setting or something? See how long you can see it for before you become too tired to run?"
This was where I stopped thinking and I looked at Misery, her sharp eyes, that ever so slightly crooked smile and grinned "oh hell yes." I laughed as I scrambled to my feet, Misery getting up off her stump and stretching, ahead of us was the river and miles and miles of forest. Neither of us were extremely fit and neither of us were fast runners to begin with. Life is made up of Moments, big moments, small moments, and those little in-between bits that you never remember quite correctly. It's these moments that make up scenes and each scene is stored and recorded as a memory, a million moment and more all compiled into the human brain. There are moments you can never forget, like a birthday, or a visit to a seaside town with a friend, or running down a hill in bare feet at sundown.
"three, two, one-"
It was at this moment that the world burst before me.
"go."
The universe unravelled at my fingertips and sent me pushing, pulsing, and ever so alive, deep into the fray of the chase. We ran, staring at the sky and laughing like the idiots we were. We stumbled and tripped and it was all fine, all one giant adrenaline rush. The world span, twisted, broke and fell black, in a matter of three seconds.
I realised why Misery had stuck so well as a nickname.
YOU ARE READING
Towards Heaven, I Fall
Fantasy". It made me think of Angels, but not the kind you'd find in scriptures or depicted in some holy fashion. There was no image to accompany my thought, simply: ANGELS spelt in big capital letters on the inside of my brain. The next thought was v...
